You’re staring down at the beautiful ring, so excited to marry your best friend. Your thoughts wander from the proposal to all of the details of your upcoming wedding day. If you are anything like me you love the details, because you get to show your personality. Before getting to those though, there are a few big picture decisions that need to be made. You are wondering ‘where do I start planning a wedding?’ I’m going to generalize a bit, but this is a typical order in which wedding planning happens:
Start Early
Starting early will help you throughout the whole process. You’ll get your pick of vendors, have time to narrow down your style and enjoy being engaged for awhile. Maybe you’ve been planning this day your whole life or maybe you haven’t given it a second thought. Either way, once that ring is on your finger it’s time to start 🙂
Consider the Time of Year
Have you thought about the time of year you want to get married? The season and the weather will play a huge part in the planning process so think about this first. Perhaps there’s a special date you’re thinking of? Check the calendar to see if that’s even possible in the next 2 years. Unless you are eloping, Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s wont typically work for your guests 😉 If you think you want an outdoor wedding the time of year is particularly important. The foliage will be very different in the spring than in the fall. Plus if you are totally uncomfortable in cold weather then early spring, late fall and winter are probably not going to be a good choice for you. Do you have a lot of out of town guests? Consider planning around a holiday weekend so they can make the most out of their travels.
Book Your Venue
Once you have the time of year narrowed down it’s time to start touring venues. Browsing your top choices websites should give you an idea of what you’ll be seeing and what other questions to ask on your tour. Touring is an exciting part of the planning process, make sure to give yourselves some time at each place so you have all of the necessary information to make a decision. For some helpful tips on how to to tour wedding venues check out this blog post.
Book Your Photographer and DJ
You have your venue booked and your date secured, now it’s time to book your photographer and DJ or Band. These are the next vendors to get booked up so once you know your date you’ll want to get these secured as soon as possible. My biggest advice for choosing these vendors is go with the one you feel the most yourself with! Of course you must love their work but beyond that go with your gut. You may be meeting these people in person or via FaceTime, either way if you feel like you can be yourself around them, they make sense for your budget and they are easy to get in touch with, they will be the right choice for you.
Look for Inspiration
Have you heard of Pinterest? I kid, I kid….of course you’ve heard of Pinterest 😉 And if you’re not into Pinterest there is a wealth of inspiration on wedding blogs, from wedding professionals and friends and family. It’s time to dream and create. Maybe that’s your strong suit and your time to shine. If it’s not, gather some trusted individuals and start planning together. This part is a lot of fun, so take the time to enjoy it. And if it stops being fun, trim down the vision. Seriously, the point of this is to marry your best friend don’t lose sight of that in all of the pretty details.
I’ve given you a map to get started, now it’s time to go and do! To reiterate my last point in Looking for Inspiration, you’ll soon be marrying your best friend. Enjoy being engaged and enjoy putting the time and effort in to making your wedding day one to remember with friends and family. Planning in advance and choosing the right vendors for you will make a world of difference in your whole wedding experience.
Cheers to Love,
Nat